Rajeev Kumar claims CBI 'hounding' him, seeks pre-arrest bail

Former Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Tuesday claimed that the CBI was "hounding" him while seeking anticipatory bail before the Calcutta High Court in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund case. Kumar, who is currently the additional director general of West Bengal CID, said that his leave will end on Wednesday and his prayer for pre-arrest bail be taken up for hearing urgently.

Moving the anticipatory bail prayer, his counsel Debasish Roy submitted before a division bench presided by Justice S Munshi, that "the CBI is hounding me (Kumar) like anything." At this, brother judges Justice S Dasgupta said, "Go and surrender."

The division bench then fixed Kumar's anticipatory bail prayer, which was filed on Monday, for hearing on Wednesday. CBI sleuths have gone to several places, including his official residence at Park Street here, in search of the elusive officer.

Kumar's pre-arrest bail prayer was rejected by the Alipore district and sessions court on September 21. The agency has given multiple notices to Kumar to appear before it for questioning as a witness in the Saradha scam case.

He, however, did not appear before the CBI and has sought more time on every occasion. The Saradha group of companies allegedly duped lakhs of people to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore, promising higher rates of return on their investments. Kumar has been accused of tampering with crucial evidence in the scam.